Turnabout
by Iris Irine
Summary: Nero was the start, but all of their lives were irrevocably changed. In this timeline thirteen years old Jim Kirk never stepped foot on Tarsus IV, so someone else did.
1. 00 Prologue

**Author's note**: I'm a new trekkie (ever since the Star Trek 2009 was released, at least), so if there's any error or general lack of knowledge regarding ST trivia, please forgive me since I never watched TOS or the others after it. And I've only watched two out of the 10 movies in the prime!universe.

In STXI and STID, the universe was realigning itself to the original timeline. When I watched STID I didn't even know the significance of Carol Marcus' character. Now that I started reading fics in the fandom and learning more about the characters and the original series, I found that Carol is my favourite character. Her character in the new timeline received quite a change of focus, from molecular biology to weapons specialist. So, in effort to make peace with the changes in the new timeline to the old in my mind, I cooked this fic up. All I'm doing is a little switch-a-roo like the STID did with STII: Wrath of Khan.

* * *

There was a loud shatter from down below that startled the little girl.

"Shut up! We're done!" A loud masculine voice shouted, then the loud bang of the front door.

Sounds of argument drifted to her ears from downstairs. Carol huddled deeper into her bed and tried to pay more fervor in her reading. Carol Marcus was a gifted child. She realised from a very young age that she can remember with almost perfect clarity. She knew about the precarious _status-quo_ her parents have with each other, and understood enough not to say anything about it, even when she saw less and less of her father.

That night was the last she ever saw her parents together.

Across the planet in a dusty landscape, a boy too angry at life and too smart, narrowly missed losing his life in his first act of rebellion.

Chest heaving from the adrenaline surge, he announced loud and clear to the policeman, "My name is James Tiberius Kirk!"

* * *

The school staffs loved Carol. She was well behaved, obedient and remarkably intelligent. She had skipped grades, and still kept up in the top 3% of the school population. At twelve year old, Carol was also easily one of the loveliest. As such, the combination proved to provoke jealousy in her peers.

Carol spent lonely years in the school, distracting herself by burying herself in schoolwork, and getting her hands in everything she can get; biology, chemistry, physics, astrophysics, engineering and programming. Thus, in her years of alienation and self-imposed reclusion, she found that she was years beyond her peers and the gap was only widening.

* * *

Carol loved her mother, June Wallace—she had readopted her maiden surname after the divorce, and June clearly loved her daughter. But sometimes, Carol felt as if they weren't communicating in the same plane.

"Carol, can we talk?" That was the first sentence Carol heard from her mother the moment she came back home from school.

June Wallace was a beautiful woman; even in her early forties she still looked young and alluring. Carol had inherited her graceful motions, light golden hair and blue eyes—typical traits of the Londoner high socialites.

"Sure, mum." Carol replied back. Dropping her padd off on the side table, she followed her mother and sat on the loveseat across from the older woman. "What is it, mum?"

The older woman looked uncertain for a moment, before she seemed to steel herself. "Carol, I heard something disturbing from the neighbour, yesterday. She told me that you don't get along with the children at school. At all."

Carol found that she was unable to look at June in the eyes.

"Carol, why didn't you tell me?" June implored.

"It's not a problem, mum. I'm fine." Carol answered.

June looked saddened at her answer. The silence between the two stretched until June finally moved and offered her padd to the young girl. On the screen of the padd was the detail of a highly prestigious school with various specialties.

"Mum?" Carol asked shakily.

"I have made arrangements for your enrolment there. You would fit in better with your peers there, hopefully." June answered, looking at her daughter sadly, "You will depart tomorrow."

"I don't want to leave you, mum." Carol pleaded.

June's smile turned melancholic. "And neither do I want you to leave me." She replied back steadily, "But I believe it is necessary. There, you would work at the standard you are in and work with like-minded people, and maybe even become friends." June's smile widened, "You would be happy there, Carol."

The day after, Carol found herself in the next shuttle bound to Tarsus IV.


	2. 01

**Author's Note**: I will be focusing more on Carol in this fic. There have been many other wonderfully written fics and expositions of Jim Kirk's possible dysfunctional childhood out there, but I haven't seen a fic about Carol's early life yet. Also, I realised something a couple days ago; as a new trekkie I keep hearing about 'replicators' in various fics. So, why would the Tarsus IV colony starve if crops fail? Thankfully Memory-Alpha cleared that up for me. Therefore, going by what MA says, I'm assuming during this time there is only food synthesiser, and it's not something that is a common everyday item yet.

Title is taken from George Orwell. If you like please leave a review, they are very good motivator for me :)

* * *

**01: Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength**

**Tarsus IV Colony, Stardate 2246**

It had been close to a year since Carol Marcus arrived to Tarsus IV, and three weeks since the rationing started.

Carol truly enjoyed her time in Tarsus IV, the unique education system of Tarsus IV Academy suited her. In the Tarsus IV Academy, students were assessed and put into the appropriate level of education based on their capabilities, so there could was a huge age range in one class.

It was wonderful to stop hiding, to be free spending her days discussing or arguing whatever newest postulations, theorems and research she fancied with her peers. Furthermore, the attitude of the people around her were very understanding and encouraging. For the first time ever Carol felt that she truly belonged.

The food rationing happened suddenly, one night they were served their regular warm, delicious dinner from the dorm's cafetaria, and the next day they woke to find the strict rationing imposed on all colonists. It was started due to concerns of the crops failing while the team of scientists and agriculturists work together to figure out the cause and try to tease a solution.

It was barely noticeable, but Carol could already see the strict rationing affecting her weight, her slim figure was thinning—borderline on looking too thin for a healthy teenager. It affected her next room dorm-mate and close friend, Martha worse. Her other friends, Tom and Lenore, both who are local inhabitants to Tarsus IV, escaped in slightly better conditions as their family have some food stored to supplement the ration.

Martha's stomach growled, prompting Carol to send her friend a sympathetic look.

"At least I only have to put up with this for two more days." grumbled Martha ominously. Martha's family lived in a different Federation colony. The last time they communicated via video a few days ago, her family expressed their wish for Martha to return as they were worried that she had lost too much weight. Martha was booked to leave in the shuttle the day after tomorrow.

Carol was careful to only communicate by sub-space messages with her mother ever since the rationing started in order to keep June from worrying. Carol loved being in Tarsus IV, and she feared that June would demand that Carol return, like Martha was by her family. It would be lonely without Martha in the room next to her, but she would still have Tom and Lenore.

* * *

The gossip chain in Riverside Central was lit by its usual customer: the local bad boy.

_You don't mess with James T. Kirk._

Kirk acted silly, but several people could vouch that he was as sharp as a knife and sly as the devil. The female population added fuel to the fire with the fact that Kirk was good looking, and wasn't ashamed to flaunt that fact.

The one thing that the general population of Riverside Central have to hush up was about his father. Everyone knew of his father: the late George Samuel Kirk Sr., a decorated Starfleet officer and tragic hero of the _USS Kelvin._

The first person who mocked Kirk about his birth immediately got a fist in the face and a trip to the hospital for a broken nose. The next person had to stay a few days in the hospital. After that, people with the sense of self-preservation learned to stay away from that particular piece of Kirk's background, at least when you were within Kirk's hearing range.

The adults in Riverside would shake their heads sadly, recalling the nice, obedient boy Kirk was when he was small, saying "He had so much potential."

Kirk himself had learned to stop listening to what other people thought about him. Listening to other people and being a good kid had got him nowhere but neglect. He was stranded in the hellhole called Riverside, Iowa, because Winona Kirk preferred the stars than staying with her sons. She left them with her brother, Frank who was abusive and ill-mannered.

That sense of abandonment was further reinforced by the betrayal he felt from his brother's running away, after the initial panic had abated. Winona couldn't bear to look at Jimmy and see him for her son who needed her, and George Samuel Jr. had given up in protecting him from Uncle Frank.

Kirk's first act of rebellion gave him his first taste of freedom—that sensation of weightlesness and limitless possibilities. For a moment, he could forget about the anger and disappointment he felt towards his life. George had mentioned that he 'couldn't be a Kirk in that house'. Maybe, this was what George meant by being a Kirk?

* * *

"Come on, Carol." Lenore urged Carol. The younger girl was holding a glass of water to Carol, who was lying prone in bed, her pale face beaded with perspiration and too weak to move.

Since Martha had left, Lenore invited Carol to stay with her and her father, Kodos the governor of Tarsus IV. Everything had seemed to go great; Carol seemed relieved to be with them, and Lenore's father was impressed by Carol's manners and intelligence. This was until Carol fell sick.

The symptoms Carol was showing was similar to the symptoms that had broken out among the general populace and claimed many fatalities: extremely high temperature, delirium, internal haemorrhage, and a burning sensation inside their bodies. The moment Carol started showing symptoms, Lenore was always by Carol's side, caring for the sick teen. Even Kodos had shown concern on Carol's condition by visiting daily and bringing Carol what medicine they have left.

As Carol stayed in bed in delirium, she missed Kodos' colony-wide announcement of the crop failure. She also missed the colonials horrified realisation as the regular four month shipping from the nearest starbase failed to come.


	3. 02 The World Breaks Everyone

**AN: **I'm honestly baffled by the Stardate system. I may decide to make it similar to a Gregorian calendar (i.e. 365 days in one year) in this fic, if I couldn't figure it out. Again, I made up an event in this chapter to rationalise why no one escaped from Tarsus IV during the famine (or maybe they did, but I never read the novel so I don't know). This chapter's title is taken from Ernerst Hemingway.

And this chapter was challenging to write;I had so much trouble trying to get the atmosphere for Jim. Additionally, my mind has been everywhere this past week since I had a practical exam in uni and then an oral presentation, my mind was everywhere and anywhere.

If anyone is still reading this fic, please give a shout out, please? And please do tell me if you find a plot hole or typo or grammar mistakes. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

PS: I made minor changes to the previous chapter.

* * *

**02 The world breaks everyone**

**Riverside, Iowa, Stardate 2246**

It has been close to a year since Kirk last saw Winona. Not that he minded her absence, but at least Frank was slightly more tolerable when she was around. Like last year, on the rare occasion when Winona was earthside in Riverside, she witnessed a drunk Frank hitting her thirteen year old son black and blue in a drunken rage. Winona had stopped her brother and for a short period in the aftermath, had let her maternal instincts to rule her actions.

Instead of restoring Kirk's faith on Winona, that experience made him conflicted. On one side, it made him glad to receive the care and attention that he craved from her, but on the other hand it made him felt even more bitter towards the neglect that he experienced since he was small.

Ever since then, Frank had stopped taking it physically on the boy and started a different kind of abuse. Frank got even snider at Kirk, often belittling and distrustful of the boy. It always drove Kirk off the wall with anger, and since shouting back at Frank would end up with Kirk receiving a black eye and kicked out of the house, it was altogether easier to avoid him completely. Thus, as usual Kirk took to spending his time outside of his uncle's farmhouse.

Kirk exited the unassuming building of the local library, weighing his options. Kirk had memorised the layout of the whole town without meaning to during one of his roamings, so there was no chance that he would get lost; or, he could go back to the library, be antisocial and bury his nose in old holos again.

Kirk decided that he probably should go out and socialise, as the sky was still bright, and he had been spending too much time in the librarylately.

He might swung by the police station and say hi and give his only friend in the town—Officer El-Hage, a surprise visit.

They had struck up an unexpected friendship, when he offered entertainment to the young Kirk who was being held overnight in the station for his act of rebellion back when he was eleven years old. All the other officers in the station seemed wary of the Kirk boy who nearly killed himself in the car crash, but Officer El-Hage was undeterred. It started with a coincidence, El-Hage had left his padd on the table with his computer programming manual opened. When the elderly man returned and found Kirk perusing his padd in fascination, seemingly forgetting the world aside from the information inside the padd. El-Hage—who was a bit of an academic, was curious.

It started with that computer programming manual, then the history of space technology, and finally El-Hage introduced Kirk to chess. Kirk gobbled up the knowledge El-Hage offered him. Kirk lost his first and second games, but he quickly grasped the logic of the game and trumped El-Hage and the other officers in the station.

Kirk waited for a few days in the station for Winona, since Frank declined to even come. Those few days he spent waiting for Winona in the police station was honestly one of his most enjoyable, since back home he never could go out and play with other kids his age in fear of Frank getting angry. The few times Kirk had gone home late from school, Frank had locked him out of the house during winter, or deliberately made a mess of the house for the boy to clean. According to Frank there was always chores for the boys, and the least Kirk could do as repayment for staying in his house was to finish them on time without complaint. George had left since he decided that he had enough of their uncle.

Kirk was halfway to the police station when something caught his eye. It was an old rusty frame of a motorcycle. The frame was laying against the wall of a local mechanic shop, amongst other debris. Kirk had often seen it in old texts and holos from the library. The wheels reminded him of his father's old corvette.

It would be a challenge to restore the motorbike to function, but his heart was already set on it. There was only one way to find out, and that was by talking to whoever owned the bike.

Curious heads turned as the young teenage boy marched into Riverside's local mechanic shop.

"Hey," Kirk greeted. "Whose bike is that lying outside?"

* * *

**Tarsus IV Colony, Stardate 2246**

Carol took a lungful of breath and released it slowly. It felt wonderful.

It has been a day since her fever broke, relieving Lenore and Kodos. Carol herself felt so much better, it no longer hurt and restrictive to breathe, her body no longer felt feverish and she could finally think and comprehend her surrounding again. Carol decided to use the first day of her convalescence to catch up on news that had occurred while she was indisposed.

The riot that occurred two days previously took her by surprise. In the panic of the mass, the shuttle port along with the long-distance space communication hub was burned down. Now everyone was stuck on Tarsus IV. Carol could feel her heart sinking with cold fear when Lenore told her of the news. Then her suspicion was piqued when Lenore said that her father had made an announcement to allay the colonists' fears, that he already had a plan in motion to save them.

Lenore was confident in her father. "After all, he did know how to save your life, when everyone thought you'd die, Carol. So, if dad said he has a plan, I believe him." assured Lenore.

_But how?_ That was the question that continuously plagued Carol's mind. Because Carol had clearly caught the same disease that was spreading among the colonists and reaping lives left and right. It was no wonder that everyone believed Carol to be a lost cause. She could not ask Lenore, since Lenore so clearly adored her father.

The whole premise seemed and sounded too suspicious to Carol. It was not due to lack of gratitude on Carol's part; Kodos had accepted her into his house and from what she heard, cured her as well—but,Carol's mother had once been an emergency consultant to Starfleet, and everything that had occurred had been going according to June Wallace's worst case scenario.

Carol dreaded what would happen next.

She knew there was no way she could stay still when she was so restless and anxious. So, the moment she was strong enough to walk unattended, Carol silently left for Kodos' office.

There was a boy in the academy who was a repeat offender for hacking into sensitive databases. Being a minor, he was spared from the usual harsh punishment and instead was sent to Tarsus IV in light of his incredible skills. Carol had become acquaintances with the boy when she accidentally walked in on him hacking into the academy's network. Instead of reporting him, Carol had asked him to teach her instead. In the five months since she started learning programming (and hacking), Carol's skills had grown by leaps and bounds. This was the skill she utilised in hacking into Kodos' personal network and bypassing his safeguards. She found that Kodos had planned for some sort of tribunal with half of the population to occur late in the evening that day.

* * *

"Come quietly, Lenore." Carol dragged Lenore with her when evening came.

Lenore was confused. "Why are we sneaking through the maintenance hatch?"

Carol kept her voice low, "Let's just see what's gonna happen, okay? Then we can return."

They hid in the shadow on the balcony, crouched down together against the solid banister. Lenore could feel Carol's still slightly shaky breath blowing against the nape of her neck as she breathed out. Lenore made a mental note to hurry and get Carol back to rest afterwards.

They watched as people trickled in, seemingly as confused as they were to the purpose of the emergency meeting.

The moment the meeting was to be commenced, the whole atmosphere abruptly changed. Enforcers shut the wide double doors and the tall windows. The general chatter cut off immediately to a sense of unease among the colonists assembled in the meeting hall. Carol briefly wondered what was the purpose of gathering a few thousand people people?

It seemed everyone could feel that something huge was about to happen. Carol could feel it in her suddenly dry mouth, and in Lenore's sweating, trembling hands in Carol's.

What proceeded next would give Carol nightmares for years to come, and destroyed Lenore's mind. The two girls witnessed the speech that began the madness:

"_The revolution is successful. But survival depends on drastic measures. Your continued existence represents a threat to the well-being of society. Your lives mean slow death to the more valued members of the colony. Therefore, I have no alternative but to sentence you to death. Your execution is so ordered, signed Kodos, Governor of Tarsus IV."_


End file.
